Permafrost
by Scruff the Rat
Summary: Planning out proposals is never easy. Fortunately Classified is not the type to give in so easily. Classified/Corporal, pre-established relationship.


**Disclaimer: My only character here is Lily.**

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Faint growls of frustration echoed in the sparsely decorated office-esque bedroom.

A tiny wolf cub broke eye contact with her copy of _The Great Gatsby¸_ her white fur glowing from the pale moonlight permeating the cushy king-sized bed upon which she sat cross-legged, to watch an adult male of her species standing in front of a body-length mirror, staring at his own reflection.

The grey-and-ivory male was not admiring his appearance, however, as the cub could tell from the vehement glare she could discern from her angle of view. In fact, he seemed ready to rip his own well-groomed fur out, screaming until his lungs imploded from lack of oxygen. Curious, the cub hopped off the bed, deserting the book, and approached her senior, who remained too busy fretting to notice.

"Blast it!" The male threw his hands into the air. "I can lead an _entire_ team to victory against manic robots, pilot and park multi-million dollar ships without leaving a scratch, and even use an ice-cream truck to blow up a bloody cephalopod-themed submarine. For God's sake, why am I acting so off about _this_ , of all things?!"

Benjamin Connor (aka Agent Classified) took a deep breath to soothe his frustration—with limited success. His brain still ached from this dilemma but on the bright side his sanity no longer swayed like an egg balancing atop a teetering seesaw.

For now anyway.

A gentle tug on the tail drew his attention to the adorable wolf-girl gazing up at him through beautiful amber eyes. When she tilted her head, Ben managed a half-hearted smile of endearment, already knowing the silently asked question on the child's mind. Without a word, he picked her up and cradled her against his strong expansive chest, the pup blending in perfectly into his white underbelly save for her eyes and black button nose.

Ben chuckled, irritation momentarily forgotten, when the pup put her right forepaw on his prism-shaped nose, her way of asking 'What's wrong?'

"I suppose you don't have any tips on how to propose to a devastatingly adorable polar bear, hmm?" he asked in a wistful tone belying the tiredness in his arctic cerulean eyes. When the cub merely blinked in response, her guardian sighed wryly.

"As usual, Lily, your input is infallible."

He turned back to his reflection, lips sinking into a dismayed frown, as his body slumped to the floor, Lily snug in his arms like a stuffed bear, the irony in the simile not lost on the agent.

"I know Peter's not the kind to care for delivery," Ben murmured, half to Lily, half to himself, "not like me." His eyes shifted downcast to his cub, who he knew never failed to listen to his every word. "Maybe _that's_ why I'm making this so difficult. I'm measuring my proposal as if it's meant for myself."

No surprise. Ben had always been self-centered in that regard—not a serious flaw by itself, but still something that hindered his relationships with others from time to time, especially since his egoism always mixed rather poorly with his inherent faultfinding.

 _'_ _But Peter always succeeds in soothing my mind's refutes.'_ Almost to the point that the wolf could accomplish the same alone as if the bear were right with him.

Keyword: almost.

Moonstone eyelids crinkled closed, heavy with self-disappointment. "My self-criticism is what's keeping me from just going up to him and laying the question right there on the table."

Ben threw his head back until his eyes met the ceiling, not wanting to stare at the failure that he knew would stare right back. "But Petie deserves far more than such a plain approach. He's kind and supportive and loyal—he does such a marvelous job of caring for you whenever I'm tied up with work."

For the first time since this talk started, the cub smiled, a gesture her father-figure noticed and returned.

"Yes, love, I like him, too...so, so much. If not for him, you and I wouldn't be together right now."

 _Or alive for that matter,_ he silently added as his mind pondered on how far he and his allies, his _friends_ , had come since the Dave episode last year.

A few weeks after the octopus's defeat, a series of ill happenings befell not only the North Wind, but its governing body, the OAW, as well: thousands of agents either killed or brainwashed (like Eva and Short Fuse), traitors among traitors cropping up everywhere, and even groups of animals only in the way (like Circus Zaragoza) suffering at the hands of the orchestrators responsible for the bedlam.

Lily came about as a blessing amongst tragedies.

A child prodigy who would one day match Mr. Peabody in intellect, the cub lived under the uncaring hand of her 'caretaker', an infamous mastermind bent on bringing the criminal underground into a new age and the one spearheading the operations responsible for the string of disasters befalling the agents and other animals.

Ben and Peter and their ragtag team came across the cub during their incarceration by the enemy, the animals in waiting for the chance to spring their escape plan. Every night, she would sneak in food to them and, if the guards' schedule 'permitted', ask them about their lives, her fellow wolf in particular.

In fact, she gravitated towards Ben most of all.

This behavior baffled the doubtful lupine at first. Why would someone affiliating with the enemy, even if they were a child, take such lengths to know more about them? Was it all part of some ploy, a backup to the grander scheme in case the prisoners found a way out?

Honestly, Ben found these questions harder to answer the more often Lily dropped by the cells. For someone so silent and reserved, the emotions she displayed contained no trace of deceit or ulterior motive but rather evidence of loneliness and dissatisfaction with her current life.

And for someone not overly fond of children, Classy could not deny a pang of empathy. He lost his parents at a young age and had to contend with the harsh reality of being an orphan, even under the protection of his mother and father's employers. Maybe that experience explained his growing attachment to Lily, that he wished to be the hero she needed that he himself never had.

No, not hero. Even better: inspiration.

Turns out the mastermind only kept the girl around as a part of a 'junior training' program intent on generating more capable minions for the future. In other words, Lily was nothing more than a number, a disposable pawn to be forgotten once her time came.

Oh but when she shared her pocketable inventions to her new friends, Ben knew this kid had the potential to go countless places and accomplish many great deeds.

Like busting them out of their cells, for instance, or contributing her extraordinary brains afterwards to help the two agents and their estranged allies save their friends and take the villain and her plan down permanently.

Ever since then, Lily had been under the care of the reformed North Wind, who had become a sort of surrogate family to her with Ben taking the helm as her father-figure/big brother, a role the older wolf would gladly admit turned out more rewarding than he expected, albeit more chaotic than desired.

Having backup helped tremendously, especially since a certain polar bear had more experience with kids.

The feel of Lily's tiny head nuzzling against his chest broke Ben out of his reverie, the older wolf regarding the cub with nothing but affection and amusement. For someone who never asked much, Lily surely knew how to draw attention to herself.

"I hope you realize I was only joking about giving me a solution for what to say to Peter. As far as I know, that dreadful experience could have planted second thoughts into his head about our relationship..."

Ben's ears went flat when the memories of the bullet Peter took to the chest flashed through his mind, a stinging sensation prickling at the ends of his eyelids. In his mind, Ben knew his past self from before this relationship with Peter—even early into it—would have scorned him for openly crying.

But he was a different wolf from the one the penguins met, from the one that joined the ranks of the North Wind, and certainly from the one accepted into the junior ranks of the OAW.

A cherub pair of lips kissed his teary cheek, surprising him. Ben cast his sight downward to discover Lily's empathic smile, one he could not fight the urge to emulate, albeit somewhat wistfully. He nuzzled her in thanks.

"You always know what to say, don't you? If someone as sweet as you or Peter could come to love me despite the danger I bring, perhaps I've nothing to fear." A puff of air escaped his nose. "No matter how much the idea of losing Peter may terrify me, I cannot deny the fortune of having someone so loyal, so generous, and so sacrificial for a mate."

Blissful silence.

Then his eyes lit up.

"That's it." Ben finally looked back to his reflection, muzzle stretched wide by his excitedly growing smile. "I know what to say to him."

As if on cue, two massive white arms cloaked his shoulders from behind, and, with unsurprising gentleness, drew his back into a plushy wall of pudginess and muscle covered in velvety ivory fur. One hand ran a thick thumb in circles upon the surprised wolf's burly chest while the other tenderly stroked down the scruffy fur atop Lily's head, the cub cooing at the attention and contact.

Before Ben could speak, the thumb on his chest ascended to his lips, shushing him like the deep guttural voice crooning into his pointed ear.

"Please, do tell."

Oh well then. Better now than later. Ben awkwardly cleared his throat before turning his head to gaze skyward at the bemusedly grinning ursine staring down at him.

"O-Of course! Heh, um...," his eyes shot downward, "Peter, I'm going to need to do this properly so," and with one hand he gently pried the bear's hands off before handing Lily over, "could you hold her for a moment please?"

As expected, Peter lit up at being presented the cub, clapping his hands together with an animated squeal before holding his arms out. Lily happily jumped into the larger mammal's grasp, snuggling her short snout into the deep fur, while the polar bear gazed down at her in adore.

 _'_ _That would be a definite yes,'_ Ben mused with a warmhearted gaze before setting off in search of the ring, relieved Lily showed virtually no resistance to Peter, a sign that verified the soundness of this decision to take the next step.

Little time passed before the wolf located his prime quarry in the left hand corner of the topmost shelf of his walk-in closet, right where he intended. _'_ _Organization,'_ he smirked in triumph as he plucked the small black box from its hiding place, _'_ _a wolf's best friend.'_

"Peter," rotating his head as he called his love's name, he watched with no slight level of amusement as the polar bear adjourned his cuddling session with Lily and both ursine and cub directed their pure-hearted attention towards him. Smooth steady steps brought Ben before the subject of his affections, a hopeful smile never departing from his muzzle, eyes never leaving Peter's.

Getting down to one knee, Ben revealed the box from behind his back.

"Peter Breland, we've weathered countless trials together, the fact we've reached this moment amazes me to no end. I've always been difficult to deal with, I admit that now. Yet despite all my pride, all my selfishness, all my callousness, you've stood by me all this time. Thank you, for making me so much stronger, as a leader, as an agent, as an animal...that's why I wish to ask you."

A deep breath then Ben plunged forward. Now or never. He flipped the box open.

His teddy bear's breath caught in his throat, stunned beyond measure. Even Lily, eyes sparkling brighter than Sirius, marveled at the pristine object before them: a titanium ring fashioned into wave-like patterns around a sapphire oval, simple yet elegant.

"Will you bless upon me the honor of being your eternity?"

No words of reply. Peter, his respiration regained, raised his head to meet the wolf's eyes, aqua to glacier. Seconds pregnant with anticipation ticked away for an eternity...until at last Peter took one hand and promptly shut the box closed.

At Lily's upward gaze of surprise and Ben's encroaching wilt of disappointment, the bear took the box with an assuring smile and set it on the nearby nightstand before offering that same hand to Ben, who accepted without word, silent in resignation.

Only to be launched heavenward into a waiting pair of thick gray lips!

Just before the wolf's mind could become fuzzy, Peter pulled back with an audible 'mwah', chuckling at the fluttery-eyed gobsmacked expression of his lover, Lily joining in with her cheery giggling, enthused at the implied answer behind her favorite bear's response.

"I wanted to propose first," Peter faux-pouted then shrugged nonchalantly. "But just as well. You always had better vocabulary than me. Besides," he nuzzled Ben's nose with his own, donning that same face reserved for anything cute and cuddly, "you're so adorable when you get shy and poetic."

That compliment did wonders for Ben's ego, no sarcasm intended. Face becoming debonair, he slicked back his head fur and flashed his sparkling-white teeth as he slipped a hand around the bear's grand waist and guided him towards the hallway.

"Goes to show how well your tastes are, love. Speaking of taste, why not discuss this matter further over full stomachs?" His attention returned to Lily, "How about some of that leftover teriyaki and some French rolls, sweetheart?" She reacted well to that selection the other day, after all.

Sure enough, Lily nodded exuberantly, eager to spend time with her favorite guardians over her favorite food with such a wonderful prospect in their future...although she grew confused when Peter whispered something into Ben's ear and the wolf's bravado crumbled straight into flustered stuttering.

She shook her head. One day she'd understand, for now she was content with spending time with her father and soon-to-be father.


End file.
